Kynda: Daniel MacGowan von Holstein shares how to get funded in 2025

Kynda: Daniel MacGowan von Holstein shares how to get funded in 2025

Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs 

In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.

Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners; Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.

Episode 20: Kynda: Daniel MacGowan von Holstein shares how to get funded in 2025

In this episode, I sat down with Dan, co-founder of Kynda, to explore how their fermentation technology is transforming food industry waste into high-value microprotein. We discuss Kynda’s journey from producing alternative meats to providing bioreactors for major food companies, how removing regulatory risk unlocked investor confidence, and why corporate partnerships were the key to securing their latest €3M round. Dan also shares insights on scaling a deep-tech B2B startup, securing recurring revenue, and pitching effectively to investors. A must-listen for anyone in food tech, alternative protein, or the circular economy!

Key Facts Kynda:

• Goal: To turn agricultural by-products into mycoprotein for the food and pet-food industry.
• Recently raised €3 million.

Alex’s Top Findings:

1. Investors Are More Comfortable When Risks Are Reduced. By removing regulatory risk (switching to a non-novel food strain) and showing corporate validation (testing bioreactors on factory floors), Kynda de-risked the investment and attracted more confident investors. "Early on, we asked VCs to take on multiple risks—product risk, market risk, technology risk, and regulatory risk. But once we switched our strain to a non-novel food strain, we eliminated regulatory risk, making investment much more attractive." Dan shared.
2. Corporate Partnerships Provide Investor Validation. Instead of vague Letters of Intent (LOIs), Kynda demonstrated real-world corporate adoption, allowing investors to call partners and hear positive feedback firsthand. "We placed a small bioreactor on a dairy company's factory floor, using their oat okara waste to produce microprotein. In just a day, it transformed into an edible product they could use. This hands-on demo was a huge aha moment.”
3. B2B Success Comes From Solving a Financial Problem, Not Just a Sustainability One. While sustainability is a bonus, cost and efficiency drive corporate decisions. Kynda positioned its solution as cost-effective and scalable, making adoption easier. ”Sustainability alone doesn't convince corporates. We pitched it with better taste and better prices."